5 Relationship Tips From This Year’s Oscar-Nominated Films

What have you learned from the year’s best films? Here are the relationship lessons we took away from this year’s Oscar nominees.

Even though they all didn’t win the Oscar awards this weekend, the nominees have already touched our hearts and minds. While enjoying five of this year’s favorites, I found some great relationship advice

1. Be yourself. (The Help)

Skeeter (Emma Stone) gave up an opportunity to marry a Senator’s son because he didn’t support her work. She felt it was important to be honest with him about who she was and what she wanted out of life. Although he wasn’t willing to continue the relationship, she knew her decision would bring her the most happiness.

Even the most captivating woman of her time struggled to find happiness through external means. The movie’s depiction of Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams) has the star turning to men and pills to get through life. She was just 30 years old, married to her third husband and in desperate need of attention from a young aspiring filmmaker. Her beauty, talent, and spirit for life were so often masked by her insecurity. Her experience teaches us that we can’t expect a relationship to bring us the happiness we haven’t first found in ourselves.

3. Keep calm and carry on. (The Descendants)

In what were probably the worst moments of his life, Matt (George Clooney), who considered himself the “back-up parent,” stepped up to do what was best for his family. As his wife was about to be taken off of life support, Matt took an active role in the lives of his daughters and treated his wife’s lover with more respect than the man deserved. As his love turns to loss, Matt reminds us to find a way to move forward.